Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-30

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some say that the most important thing about being rich is that one has the opportunity to help others. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Many people believe that one of the privileges of being rich is that they can help others. While it is not true for all rich people out there, I strongly agree that they should definitely help others.

When you are financially stable, it should be your priority to help others. When your needs are fulfilled, your bills and fees are paid, it is kind of your duty to help people, with what you have in abundance. Sharing will only increase your finances. Whatever good you do to others, it will impact your life. For example,You can lend money to your relatives and friends, if need be, without making it a big deal. Consequently, they might help you out in other matters of life, that money cannot solve.

In addition to this, wealthy people can also provide some better employment opportunities. For example, instead of paying an average salary to their maid and drivers, they can pay them a decent salary because they are able to afford it. As a result, there workers will be more sincere and grateful to them. Furthermore, Rich people can always do donations and charity. For instance, there are multiple people who need food and shelter, you can donate to them, or to organizations and hospitals which work on donations.

While, this is something that financially stable people should do with their excessive money, many rich people are selfish and greedy that they don't want to share their wealth with others. They always think that whatever they have is insufficient. Therefore, they'll always remain hungry for more and never be satisfied with anything.

To conclude, I completely agree with the statement that rich people should help needy people as much as they can. This is the only way to make our society better.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt directly, taking a clear position that rich people definitely should help others. The writer explores several relevant avenues, such as lending money to relatives, providing fair employment opportunities, and making charitable donations. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise or remain slightly under-developed, particularly the brief mention of greedy individuals. The position is maintained throughout the essay, but the depth of elaboration aligns well with a Band 6.5 or 7 descriptor. Overall, all parts of the task are addressed adequately with clear supporting ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as financial assistance, employment benefits, and counterarguments. Cohesive devices are employed, including transitional phrases like 'In addition to this,' 'For example,' and 'To conclude.' However, some referencing is slightly mechanical or repetitive ('When you are..., When your...'). Logical progression is mostly maintained, though the transition into the counter-argument paragraph regarding selfish rich people is a bit abrupt. These characteristics correspond securely to a Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, incorporating terms like 'financially stable,' 'abundance,' 'sincere and grateful,' and 'excessive money.' There are occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'do donations' instead of 'make donations,' and 'there workers' instead of 'their workers.' While the writer attempts less common vocabulary, spelling and word choice errors prevent the score from reaching higher bands. Communication is never impeded by these lexical slips, which firmly places the response at a Band 6 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms. The writer successfully employs conditional structures and dependent clauses, such as 'When your needs are fulfilled, your bills and fees are paid, it is kind of your duty...' However, there are notable grammatical errors and punctuation issues throughout, including a comma splice and capitalization error ('For example,You can...'), incorrect pronoun reference ('there workers'), and minor phrasing awkwardness. While these errors occur regularly, they rarely impede communication. The control of grammar aligns best with the Band 6 descriptors.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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